Why Ed Orgeron told Notre Dame football coaches, players the Irish will ‘win it all’
Ed Orgeron said it with conviction. He left no doubt.
Standing in front of Notre Dame coaches and players Tuesday, the head coach of the 2019 LSU Tigers team that won the national championship in runaway fashion told the Fighting Irish their time is coming.
“I don’t know when it’s going to happen but with this staff, this team — you’re going to win it all,” Orgeron said. “You’re going to pick up the trophy.”
Orgeron, replaced at LSU by former Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly, is in South Bend this week with his sons checking out the Irish program. Orgeron still has a strong connection with current Irish head coach Marcus Freeman, who he tried to hire from Cincinnati after the 2020 season.
The 60-year-old coaching veteran currently in the free agent pool at his position said Notre Dame is a “tremendous university” with a “great coach and great coaching staff.” He looked into the eyes of Irish players and told them they are “some of the best players in the country.”
Orgeron would know. He coached an entire roster full of some of the best players in the country in 2019. Fourteen of the Tigers who helped LSU compile a perfect 15-0 record went on to get selected in the 2020 NFL Draft. Five of them were first-round choices.
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Notre Dame might not be working with that sort of talent. What college football team ever has? There’s a case Orgeron coached one of the most talented rosters of all time. But that doesn’t need to be said of the Irish for them to win the ultimate prize.
“How bad do you want it?” Orgeron asked Notre Dame players. “You don’t have to wait for it. Why does somebody else need to be better than y’all? I’ll tell you what. Physicality, use it. The other team’s fear, use it.”
Orgeron made his affinity for the Notre Dame program known in a short media scrum after his post-practice address. He wouldn’t be spending an entire week in South Bend during the grind of spring practices if he wasn’t fond of it. The Irish have a new fan in the form of Coach O.
“I am fired up,” he said. “I can’t wait to see you guys play. I’m going to be pulling for you guys, but remember this — this is your team. This is your brotherhood you’re fighting for.”
